Wanted: 18 pairs of shoes for Sertoma 8-Man All-Star football players.

(photo courtesy of Custom Designer)

Wanted: 18 pairs of shoes for Sertoma 8-Man All-Star football players.

by Bobby Mills (1000 Yard Guy)

Nike, Addias, Reebok, are you listening? Hey, I realize the hour is late, but there are 18 running backs that will be playing in Saturday's Sertoma 8-Man All-Star game that just simply ran out of their shoes last football season. That's correct. Scorched the daylights out of them. Nothing left of the wheels, man. The blinding speed, razor cuts, and lightening bolt starts just burned them to a crisp.

That's right. If you haven't heard, 18 high school running backs that competed in the 8-Man football ranks in 2014, will all be assembled on one 160' x 360' square of gridiron real estate in Hastings, Nebraska Saturday at 1:30. The Osborne Family Sports Complex, on the campus of Hastings College may never be the same after this game. 48 of the Nebraska's finest 8-Man football players will lace 'em up for the Sertoma 8-Man All-Star game and the Hastings fire department may want to be there to put out the burning rubber when these boys are through with it.

In it's 38th year of existance, I can't seem to recall this many thousand yard running backs assembled in one game. Thousand yarders? How about 2000 yard runners? There are FIVE to be exact. All told, these 18 talented young men have run for an astounding 29,050 yards. That's

about 5 and a half miles of football field. You think they have anything close to resembling a cleated football shoe left?

Let me tell you guys at Nike, Reebok, and Addias about these terrific runners.

The East All-Stars have 10 of these dudes......Ten. Leading the way is Fullerton's Garrett Sonderup. The fluid running phenom ran for 2,319 yards a year ago and zigged and zagged his way to 5,678 yards and 114 TDs in his four year Warrior career. Sonderup's total ranks 5th all-time on the Nebraska 8-Man Career rushing list. The hard to tackle Sonderup may one of the 10 best 8-man backs this man has ever seen, by the way.

And I have a sneaking suspicion that East head coach and Hartington/Newcastle football boss Blair Kalin may just line up Humphrey St. Francis block-buster JJ Oltmer in the starting backfield with Sonderup. All Oltmer did last season was blast for 1,978 yards. The 195 pound St. Francis Flyer rushed for 4,629 yards in his career and crossed the goal line 104 times.

Then add Bloomfield's Cody Beckman (1,425 yards-25 TDs), Henderson Heartland's Jordan Heinrichs (1,407 yards-23 Tds), Howells-Dodge big guy, Jesse Faltys (1,378-25 Tds), and Sawyer Kean of Falls City Sacred Heart (1,275 yards), you have something. And lest we forget, Heinrichs is a QB too.

Oh wait, then the East also features Nebraska Christian's Cody Huenefeld (1,264 yards-16 TDs), Scribner-Snyder's 6-5, 220 QB, Bruce Schulenburg (1,186 yards-28 TDs), Emerson-Hubbard's Nathan Hogan (1,059-16 TDs) and Clarkson-Leigh's "Mr. Do-It-All" Christopher Konicek (1,010-16 TDs). And lest you also forget, Konicek caught 11 TD passes, retuned a punt for a score, and took THREE kick-offs to the house for the Patriots. Kid can do it all.

Despite all that rushing power, 14,747 yards to be exact, it may be Giltner quarterback Ben Hinrichs that provides the key to the East success. All you need to know is this...last season Hinrichs completed 61% of his 246 passes for 2,631 yards for 26 touchdowns with only 3 picks. He also ran the ball for 782 yards and 14 Tds. As a junior, Ben Hinrichs threw for 1,531 scores and 27 scores, PLUS rushing for 1,066 yards. Keep this in mind, especially in light of last years 8-Man All-Star game which saw the East's Jackson Sudbeck pass his team to a 38-14 win. As Bob Jensen always sez, "just sayin'".

How about that West stable of running backs? FOUR 2000 yard rushers. Count 'em...FOUR. For starters, there's the 8-Man state rushing champion, Jaylon Sturdivant from Maxwell. The amazing Sturdivant rushed for a mind boggling 2,823 yards and scored 53 touchdowns, leading the Wildcats to the D-2 semifinals. THEN, there is 8-Man football's most valuable player, Hemingford's Ethan Skinner. The 4-year starter led his team to 2 straight appearances at Memorial Stadium and a 2014 D-2 state title. Last year, the swift, powerful Skinner rushed for 2,685 yards, scored 47 touchdowns and just simply bulldozed over defenders. For his 4 year Bobcat career, Ethan Skinner ran for 6,139 yards (3rd best all-time in 8-Man), scored 113 TDs and AVERAGED 143 yards a game and 8.7 yards a pop. Difficult to imagine. The kid is a D-1 athlete in my opinion.

Then you have TWO more 2000 yarders in Anselmo-Merna standout Trent Geiser and Elm Creek speedster Christian Best. Geiser, who rushed for 2,480 yards for Coach Matt McGinn's Coyotes, sprinted for 44 TDs and led his team to the State Finals in Class D-2. And so deep is the West's RB stable, Geiser will NOT play offense. Yes, he's that good on defense......191 tackles worth. Elm Creek's Best, despite being 5-9, 165 pounds, scorched defenses for 2,336 yards and 41 scores and can flat out fly. You can't dare give Best a step ot you're done.

The West also has one of 8-Man's most versatile athletes in Stuart's Alex Kunz. The Bronco QB rushed for 1,542 yards in 2014, scoring 25 touchdowns. He also threw for 947 yards and 11 scores. Two seasons ago, Kunz led his team to a shocking appearance in the state finals. I knew this guy was a pure football player the first play of that finals match-up with Falls City Sacred Heart. Right behind Kunz is rough, tough Austin Schnitzler from Kenesaw. Austin rambled for 1,499 yards and 29 TDs despite suffering every type of injury kown to mankind. The dude is just that tough....a Schnitzler you know.

Also on hand is O'Neill St. Marys Zach Novak. The Cardinal star ran for 1,484 yards, scored 18 touchdowns, and made 137 tackles for Coach Tony Allen. All those stats, and St. Marys still lost 4 games. Last but not least, is Blue Hill's Keithen Drury. You know what I think about this kid? The Bobcat athlete is the kind of player that can win one of these games for an all-star squad. As a junior, the fleet footed Drury rushed for 1,400 yards. He ran for 1,378 last season despite having his carries reduced so his offensive role could be expanded. This young man is WAY faster than you think and would have been a 2000 yard runner for most schools. Drury is waaaay underrated and may prove that Saturday.

So......alright, Nike, Addias, and Reebok. 18 Running Backs with nearly 30,000 combined rushing yards and totally disintegrated, burned out shoes. Just think of how some of the fields they sparkled on look about now? Nothing but cinders. Look, I understand you have no idea what size shoes these guys wear, so my advice would be to bring your big display truck full of your newest, state-of-the-art football shoes and park that baby outside the Tom Osborne Family Complex, oh, around 10 Saturday morning. That should give plenty of time to outfit these boys. If these shoes make it through the day in one piece, you know what a potential million dollar seller you'll have in your hands. A no lose situation in my book.

Oh, also better ask the big boys up in the trenches if they need anything too. They make these guys go, you know.